Dedicated To Change
by Ishap
Summary: Post season 2, Billy wasn't killed in sacrifice.
1. Chapter 1

Pegasus

Lee looked out at the stars and shook his head. 'People look out at those stars and some of them see hope. Each little light representing a possible future for us. Each one a different salvation. I look out and see only the space between. Endless darkness. To me, those lights are nothing more than a mockery. Most of them are so far away you couldn't get to them with a thousand jumps. Others are just fossils of long dead stars, the light traveling billions of years through space, long out-living the stars from which each ray was born. I look out and see a graveyard, or a sea of possible enemies. How many times has this pattern been duplicated in the billions of years this galaxy has existed? A sentient species evolves on a planet. They learn and grow. Eventually they create artificial life, to make their lives easier or better. The artificial replaces the organic. The galaxy is probably home to thousands of different varieties of cylon.

"Action stations. Action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship."

'Great, just what I need. I've got to go be inspiring. Frak.' Lee wearily got to his feet. As he continued to move, he shed the weariness and the fatigue that he had been wearing like a second skin. It would be back though, it was inevitable.

It was a drill of course. It had been drills for months. The rescue mission drills.

'What are our frakking chances?' There were so many variables it was impossible to say. They knew nothing of the situation on New Caprica. 'For all we know, everyone's dead already. If they're not, they might not be on that planet anymore: evacuated back to the colonies or maybe a cylon world, well beyond our reach. Even if they're still there, New Caprica could be surrounded by the entire cylon fleet for all we know.'

He had brought up his concern with his father. Diplomatically:

"How do we know they're even alive?"

"We don't."

That had been it. Oh, they'd discussed the need for intel, but Adama was convinced that they had to have some mission ready:

"Even in the dark as we are, we need a plan. If they get wind that we're still around then our chance of getting our people off that rock is gone. This way, if our cover gets blown, we can move right away, and preserve the element of surprise."

"Yes sir."

It's not like Lee had really tried to change his mind, because about half of him agreed with the admiral wholeheartedly. Lee smirked at himself internally, that was him all-over these days 'half of him agreed wholeheartedly."

He reflected back as he was walking to the C.I.C. for another mind-numbing drill. He'd been on the wireless with Kara, talking to her for the first time in almost a year. He remembered the subdued anger; a seething burn. Then Dee had seen the cylons...and then he'd picked up the wireless and said "Kara, the cylons have found us and in a minute we're going to have to jump away. I just want you to make sure that you stay alive. When we come back to rescue you stupid mother-frakkers, who thought it was a good idea to settle on a ball of muck and ice, I don't want to find that the toasters have killed you. They simply wouldn't take enough pleasure in it." and then he'd hung up.

As he approached the C.I.C. he thought 'It may be stupid. We may not have a chance in hell. But gods-damn me if I'm going to let those robotic-emotionless-genocidal-frakkers kill my former best-friend/lover/almost-sister-in-law. Almost half of Lee was almost sure of it.

New Caprica

'All in all, things are going slightly better than I thought they would.' thought Billy Keikeya. 'After all, I'm still alive and who would have predicted that?' Resistance members did not have what one could call a long life-expectancy and Billy had started behind the curve, lacking the military training most of the others had. But he'd had no real choice. As soon as he had seen those raiders in the sky he'd committed himself to the fight. When it became clear that the cylons wouldn't be wiping them out from the sky, that is.

They'd settled into some weird occupation that the cylons were attempting to sell as a new beginning. Ultimately, it must be said, much better than anyone could have expected. Not that the humans were content, but not being obliterated from orbit was an unexpected windfall.

The Resistance coalesced around Saul Tigh, and Billy had found a new mentor. Not that Tigh had acknowledged him, or so much as spoken to him really. Except the once:

"You the president's nurse maid?"

"Uh, not really. She was my..."

"I didn't ask for your life story kid." Tigh interrupted.

"I'm sorry..sir?" Billy offered tentatively.

"I'm not a 'sir' anymore, and you were never a soldier. That much is clear." Tigh laughed

"Fine...I was her assistant." 'you ugly old...' Tigh had nodded, the matter settled. In his mind, Billy was sure Tigh now had a mental picture of Billy with 'President's nurse maid' as a subtitle.

As incompetent as he clearly was interpersonally, it was also clear why Adama valued him; despite...well everything else about the man, he was a warrior. Something Billy was committed to becoming.

He found that his mind was suited to tactics. Political thinking translated fairly well to warfare. The heart of each was the same: know your enemy. 'Look long and hard. Think long and hard. Win.'

So he'd observed them, their dire enemy, and found that despite all of their advantages, the resistance was hurting them. Some of the cylons had been killed by the resistance several times. They were not the same afterwards. Not at all. So Billy had suggested that they target the same ones and kill them over and over. You could tell them apart if you looked hard enough; dress pattern, movement, associations. They had files on the specific targets.

'That's number nine' thought to himself. The ninth time they'd killed 'Jessica'. The other cylons were getting worried about her. Particularly the other sixes. 'There is some sort of connection between the members of a given model-line, maybe if we kill her enough times it will send them all off the deep end. Probably not, but it's worth a try.'

Jessica had been the one who had caught Tigh.


	2. Chapter 2

New Caprica

Kara tried to chew burnt-ground-squirrel-like-creature...they didn't taste very good, but they were relatively easy to catch. The wilderness wasn't all it was cracked up to be. At least on New Caprica it wasn't. There had been a show back on Caprica about groups of people trying to survive in various harsh environments. Kara had watched a couple of episodes; it didn't interest her. Too much petty feuding, not enough action. If she wanted petty feuding, it was easy enough to get, hell, it sometimes felt inevitable. Anyway, she'd discovered that being uninteresting wasn't it's biggest sin: _that_ was how inaccurate it was. Survival was _hard_. If there were other people with her and they were actively trying to piss her off, she would be forced to shrug it off. Vengeance to be delivered when she could muster up the energy. Admittedly, she also had to stay ahead of murderous robots or she would be killed...she smiled and mentally snapped her fingers(her real fingers were too cold), 'That's what that show was missing!'

Her mood quickly darkened though, and she found herself mentally replaying the conversation that had resulted in her endless trek:

"Kara, we've got some intel and you're not going to like it. The Cylons are looking for you for some reason."

"Who'd you get this from?"

"...Sam. They took him to a basestar the day they came; he was in rough shape. He's been there for days. They just brought him back down, he's at their new medical facility. The one the centurions put up in less than a day. He's now allowed visitors. Registered visitors. He managed to get a message to our people. Apparently its a Two that's after you."

"...Leoben."

"You know what's going on?"

"Hardly ever." The Chief snorted, and shook his head.

"If you stay in town, they'll get to you. It's just a matter of time."

"What are you suggesting?"

And that was when the Chief suggested that she play hide-and-seek with the cylons in the bush for a few months. On this iceball of a planet. That had also been when she found out that her...what did you call someone who continually asked you to marry them despite consistent and occasionally vehement refusal? partner, significant-other maybe? Well, he was alive. She and others had thought he must have been killed by the Cylons for whatever reason. Instead, it was the Cylons who had saved him.

Her shelter for the night was a tarp she'd tied up. There hadn't been time to do anything else, and she didn't have the energy either. It provided no insulation whatsoever. On the bright side, there was a fifty/fifty chance it would stop freezing rain. 'Lords of Kobol it's cold!'. 'Stop complaining.' she chided herself 'if you'd continued walking for just an hour, you could have made it to the cave, but you didn't, so stop it.' The cave was one of her more permanent shelters, and the thought of it now was somewhat agonizing: she could make it decently warm with a small oil heater she kept there. Warm! 'Shut up!'

Kara reached for the memory that kept her warm on nights like this one. She replayed what Lee said over the wireless the day the fleet had jumped away. As always, it filled her with a bright, warming rage.

"Don't worry about me Lee, there's no way I'm going to let some toaster punch my ticket; just make sure you don't either." she whispered to the darkness.

"Just wait until I get my hands on you, you self-righteous prick."

--

"You know how pathetic you are right?...I wouldn't want you to go on thinking that no one sees that you're obviously still pining away for Dee, and that this whole 'become a frakking hero resistance fighter' nonsense is a poorly thought out way of attempting to prove to her that you're the better man."

"My decisions have nothing to do with..."

"Well that's a very good thing," Tigh interrupted him "because it's not going to happen. As we speak She and Apollo have probably just finished a magnificent meal and are enjoying a nightcap as a prelude to a Good. Long. Frak. And you...you'll probably be dead before too long."

Billy woke up. Unfortunately for him, this time he remembered what he had been dreaming. As if life on New Caprica were not hard enough, his unconscious mind decided that he needed to be frakked with while he was resting. He had to give himself some credit though, that was exactly what Tigh would say to him. That is, if he gave a damn(thankfully he didn't). And if he weren't currently a guest of the Cylons.

While making his breakfast,(Cylon pancakes with Cylon syrup and Cylon coffee: this was how Billy though of the products that the Cylons were "bestowing" on the people of New Caprica. He didn't want to forget where it all was coming from; that would be the beginning of the end.)Billy once again put his mind to the task of freeing Tigh. It was intractable though. The Cylons wouldn't even admit that they had him. Ellen Tigh's plan seemed to involve frakking every Cylon she could, in the hopes of finding one who could get him out: it was a better plan than any Billy had come up with.

"Mmmm, Cylon pancakes are crafted with machine precision, with machine love." Billy chuckled to himself. "You can really taste the M-Love!" He had a future in advertising: that was clear.

'Got to drop those supplies for Kara, she must be miserable with this weather.' he thought. 'Well, she isn't the only one.'

Billy looked at his watch.'Well, time and tide wait for no man. There's a school out there that's not going to explode all by itself.'


	3. Chapter 3

New Caprica

It was a painting; a still life. An older man with salt and pepper hair, a younger man with an air of desperate intensity and two blonds, identical in their sharp beauty all surrounding a body in a pool; a diminished echo of the blonds, her lack of animation halving and softening her beauty. Suddenly that changed. A wave of suffering crashed over and through her body. The two men exchanged significant glances while the women attempted to comfort their sister.

After a few moments, a new stillness came over the scene, the four surrounding the pool fixing their attention squarely on the newly awakened one, who was looking at her hands as if she had never seen them before. Finally she said:

"This then, is the price of immortality. God was merciful to the humans when he made them so that they die only once. More merciful than they deserve."

The three women left. Two of them guiding the third.

"Has there been any progress?" The older man asked the younger.

"There is no physical or testimonial evidence. We cross-referenced the visual memories of the centurions who were in proximity each time she has been killed. We have a five point match. One person was present,or very close, for five of the assassinations."

"Who?"

"Billy Keikeya. According to Colonial records he was a former aide to former President Roslin. He left her service before Baltar was elected, became Picon's representative in Quorum shortly before our arrival. Critical of Baltar, save for the issue of colonizing New Caprica, which was apparently the cause of his split from Roslin. Current residence unknown."

"A resistance member."

"Very high probability."

"Five times...too many to be a coincidence..."

"There is no such thing."

"Of course, how silly of me."

...

"I think Keikeya's losing it."

"Well, there's not much of 'it' left on this planet. So I'm glad he's not hoarding the meager supply."

"I'm serious Chief."

"So am I. We have bigger concerns Anders."

This didn't seem to sit well with Sam, by the set of his face. He glanced over at the other side of the tent where Billy was engrossed with one of his lists. He had been speaking quietly, but Sam thought it wouldn't have mattered. 'I could have been shouting, and he wouldn't have noticed.' he thought. The Chief nudged him to get his attention.

"Drop it." He insisted.

"Fine."

"Galactica and Pegasus are coming back in a week. We have bigger fish to fry."

"I said fine."

"Good. Now we need a solid plan, with backups, to deal with the anti-air batteries. I don't want those vipers to be hit by a barrage right as they're making an atmospheric launch. Not a lot of those pilots have very much, if any, atmospheric flight experience; we want to make it as easy as possible for them."

"Is it really that different?"

"About the same difference as there is between running and swimming."

"You're exaggerating, I hope."

"A little."

"The pilots from the Pegasus are mostly Academy trained. Why aren't they the ones doing the New Caprica air-support?"

"Because while Galactica is making an utterly insane jump, Pegasus will be busy holding off however many basestars happen to be up there. They're going to need their best to have even a ghost of a chance. Plus..." The chief hesitated but continued. "They're low on pilots in general because quite a few are down here. Apollo apparently resigned his command of Pegasus, and assumed command of the ground-support mission because there aren't enough of them."

'Of course he did.' Sam thought to himself.

"Kara's probably out there trying to build a viper out of rocks and twigs to get into this fight." He said. The Chief laughed but cut off abruptly as the tent flap rippled...and there she was; a very dirty and disheveled Kara Thrace.

"Yeah, the damn thing just wouldn't get off the ground. I think I'm going to have to settle for blowing stuff up." She said with a crooked smile.

...

Billy concentrated on the paper before him, ignoring the sounds of welcome and happiness. That wasn't important right now. He saw again in his mind Ellen Tigh's broken body. And remembers too, the sense of instant knowledge. 'She knows. She knows that I know. I know that she knows. She knows that I know that she knows... and on into infinity...' 'Ignore that for now' he told himself 'focus on what is certain... what is certain, is that I only have a week to find Tigh.'

Galactica, Adama's office

"Madame President." said Adama with a twinkle in his eye. He stepped aside to allow her to enter.

"Not you too. I can't get anyone to refer to me as anything but 'Madame President'. I agreed to head the civilian government-in-exile because I have the most experience and we couldn't exactly have an election. That doesn't make me President."

"Understood Madame President." She rolled her eyes, but decided it wasn't worth it to protest.

"The atmosphere here has improved a great deal since the last time I was here."

"It's the anticipation." Adama replied, sitting behind his desk and gesturing that she should make herself comfortable.

"I think it's more than that."

"Oh?"

"I think having Captain Apollo back on board has something to do with it."

"If you say so. I think he's being incredibly short-sighted."

"Is that why you demoted him all the way down to Captain? Rather than Major?"

"Yes."

"For spite?"

"You know who he recommended for his replacement on Pegasus? Kendra Shaw. He said that she would be the ideal candidate, except that when we've finished rescuing everyone he recommends that I immediately replace her with someone else."

"Why?"

"Because she's another Cain."

"Did you promote her?"

"I had no real choice. Kelly isn't ready...and there's no one else with sufficient command experience."

"Trust his judgement Bill." She said and Adama sighed.

"I do Laura. Shaw is an excellent soldier. She commanded the mission to that antiquated basestar, and if things had gone slightly differently, by all accounts it could have been a disaster. But she brought everyone back." said Adama, remembering. "Starbuck wanted to lead that mission, but Lee wanted to show his faith in Shaw, so he pulled Kara off of it entirely..." Bill trailed off, a somber expression descending on his features.

"I think if you're honest with yourself, you will admit that you're worried about him. If he were on Pegasus, he would be much safer, so you want him on Pegasus."

Adama looked thoughtful but didn't respond.

"I'm here to discuss the supply situation..." She said, interrupting his introspection.

"Of course."

"This particular issue is going to take some time."

"You're going to miss the last shuttle back."

"I planned to miss the last shuttle back."


End file.
